Artist&#39;s pallet holder



p 1969 L. J KINNEY 3,465,893

ARTIST'S PALLET HOLDER Filed April 24, 1967 United States Patent 3,465,893 ARTISTS PALLET HOLDER Lloyd J. Kinney, 14334 E. Chestnut St., Whittier, Calif. 90605 Filed Apr. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 633,065 Int. Cl. A47f /00, 5/08 US. Cl. 211-86 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention relates to supporting racks and, more particularly, to collapsible supporting racks that can be secured removably attached to an artists easel.

When an artist paints pictures indoors or outdoors on location he must perform several operations incidental to his painting, such as measuring objects, adding paint to his pallet, mixing paint colors, cleaning or changing brushes or painting knives, or steadying the canvas. This requires that he has the use of both hands and for that he must deposit his pallet at a suitable place. In the past, no special provisions were available for depositing the artists pallet.

Although the artist often desires to have both hands free while he paints, in the past he always had to hold the pallet in one hand and the brush in the other since no provisions were made for depositing the pallet adjacent the easel which held the canvas on which he painted.

Summary of the invention This invention provides a supporting rack which enables an artist to deposit the pallet adjacent the canvas. The supporting rack is attached to any suitable crossmember of the easel, such as the crossbars secured to the front legs of the easel and which hold the painters canvas. The rack includes a horizontal platform which is removably attached to the easel by hangers suspended from the easel crossbar. To maintain the platform in a horizontal position, regardless of the position of the easels legs, adjustable means are provided to secure the platform to the hanger.

This supporting rack gives the artist an always-present depository for his pallet while he paints. The danger of soiling the pallet and contaminating the paint by having to place the pallet on the ground is thereby averted. Moreover, he may paint with his hands free by securing the pallet to the platform.

The supporting rack is easily attached to the easel and is collapsible into a small package. The artist can therefore carry this small package with him wherever he paints.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an artists easel with a supporting rack attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and showing a hinged hanger;

FIG; 3 is a fragmentary side elevation along line 3--3 of FIG. 1 and showing the means for attaching a pallet to the rack; and

FIG. 4 shows a collapsed holder.

Description of the preferred embodiment FIG. 1 shows a conventional artists easel including a pair of front legs 6. A pair of transverse crossbars and 11 is suitably secured to the front legs and supports a canvas (not shown) on which the artist paints. A platform 12 forming part of the pallet holder or supporting rack of this invention is disposed beneath the crossbars such that it will not interfere with the artists hands and arms while he paints on the canvas.

Hangers 14 are pivotally secured to the platform. Each end of each hanger opposite the ends attached to the platform is L-shaped to hook the hanger to crossbar 10 and includes an annular clip 15. A chain 16 is connected to clip 15 of the hanger. The chain 16 is preferably a ball chain since it does not have the tendency, as does a link chain, to become tangled with the other components of the pallet holder when it is removed from the easel. The other end of the chain is secured to hooks 18 which are mounted on the platform 12. Alternatively, the platform can be provided with slots 19 which engage the chain and restrain it to the platform. When the rack is attached to an easel, the platform can be adjusted such that it is in a horizontal position regardless of the position of the easel and the slope of the plane defined by the front legs 6 by simply lengthening or shortening the portion of chain between clip 15 and hook 18 or slot 19.

The supporting platform 12 is constructed of a plurality of elongated members. The elongated members comprise first crossbars 22 which extend away from the legs 6 and which are substantially transverse to the plane defined by the legs. Second crossbars 24 are transverse to the first crossbars and are spaced apart and successively further away from the legs. The first and second crossbars are pivotallyy joined together, such as by loosely fitted rivets 26. The crossbars may be constructed of a wide variety of materials, such as sheet metal, wood or plastic.

Outermost first crossbars 28 extend beyond a second crossbar 30 which is adjacent the legs 6 and form hinges 31 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. These protruding hinges engage the front legs of the easel and prevent the platform from swaying relative to the easel. The outermost first crossbars have a flat or slightly concave cross-section. For additional strength and to secure any parts deposited on the platform against sliding off the platform they may be given an angular cross-section.

Hangers 14 include hinge pins 32 which are preferably formed integrally with the remainder of the hangers and which extend transversely to the vertical portion of the hangers in a direction substantially parallel to crossbar 30. Hinge pins 32 are pivotally disposed i hinges 31 and are restrained to the hinges by angular end portions 33 of the pins. This construction avoids movement of the hangers in a direction parallel to longitudinal axis of crossbars 10 of the easel and further increases the stability of the pallet holder.

As best seen in FIG. 3, central first crossbars 34 include clips 36 at their end adjacent the front legs 6 of the easel. The clips secure the artists pallet to the platform. Clips 36 can be integrally constructed with the central first crossbars 34 as shown in FIG. 3, or they may be fastened to them. Alternatively, suitable clamping means (not shown) can be attached to the crossbars to secure supplies to the platform.

To secure the rack to the easel, the artist attaches the L-shaped portion of the hanger 14 to the crossbar 10 to prevent the hanger from interfering with the canvas resting on crossbar 11. He extends the chain 16 from the hanger to the hooks 18 on the platform such that the platform is in a horizontal position. The supporting rack is now ready for use, and the artist can deposit his pallet thereon, and proceed with his painting unhampered.

To remove the rack from the easel, the artist simply disengages chain 16 from the hooks 18 and slips the L-shaped portion of hangers 14 ofl the crossbar 10. Alternatively, he pulls the platform forward to disengage hinges 31 form the easels legs, and slides the rack in a direction parallel to crossbar 10 of the easel until one hanger is free of them. After that hanger has been pivoted downwardly toward the platform, he moves the rack in the opposite direction until the second hanger is disengaged from the easels crossbars. The pivotally mounted hangers are folded downward into the plane of the platform. The artist now grasps the platform on diagonally opposed corners and compresses it. The pivotally joined, elongated members now pivot in a scissors-like fashion until they form a thin, narrow, and elongated package 38, as shown in FIG. 4. The rack is now ready for transportation or storage. To open the rack, the artist grasps opposing corners 40 and 42, shown in FIG. 4, and pulls until it is open and has a rectangular shape. The rack is ready to be attached to the easel.

What is claimed is:

1. A collapsible rack for supporting an artists pallet on an easel which includes upright legs and a crossbar, the rack comprising a plurality of elongated transverse members pivotally secured to each other to form a supporting platform which can be collapsed to a position with the members disposed to form an elongated, compact package, a pair of upright hangers each pivotally secured at its lower end to the platform and shaped at its upper end to hang from the easel crossbar, means securing the hanger to the platform at points spaced from the lower ends of the hanger to hold the platform in a substantially horizontal plane, and clips on the platform for securing the artists pallet to the platform.

2. A rack according to claim 1 which includes flexible .4 means for securing the hangers to the platform at points spaced from the lower ends of the hangers.

3. A rack according to claim 1 i which the platform includes a portion which bears against each leg of the easel.

4. A rack according to claim 1 in which two members of the platform extend away from the platform and each bears against the side of a respective legs of the easel to restrict movement of the platform in a direction transverse to that in which the two said members extend.

:5. A rack according to claim 1 in which the clips are formed integrally with some of the members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 966,244 8/1910 Ruck 248-238 1,228,868 6/1917 AnderSOn 248238 1,711,081 4/1929 Braune l82129 X 2,000,483 5/1935 Hogelin 248238 2,469,593 5/1949 COble 248238 2,908,397 10/1959 Patterson 21l150 X 3,122,858 3/1964 Kadin 248449 3,211,295 10/1965 Weiss 211-10 1 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner ABRAHAM FRANKEL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

l08l49; 2ll-l05, 149; 248215, 441

P0405! UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,465,893 Dated September 9, 1969 Inventofls) Lloyd J. Kinney T1. is certified that error appears in the shove-identified pate t and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 22, delete "secured".

Column 2, line 8, "ends" should be --end--; line 31, "pivotallyy" should be --pivotally--; line 50, after "to" insert --the-..

Column 3, line 27, "hanger" should be --hangers--; line 28, "hanger" should be --hangers--.

Column 4, line 8, "legs." should be ----leg--.

SI'GN ED AND SEALED J .Atuat:

new: In mm 1:. an. Edward Commissioner of Patents 

